[bookshare-discuss] Article: NextUp.com Finds iPods® Aren't Just for Music Anymore!

"Shelley L. Rhodes" <juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> · Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:12:03 -0500

PR Newswire
Thursday, January 27, 2005

NextUp.com Finds iPods® Aren't Just for Music Anymore!

  New survey results clearly show that portable devices such as iPods and 
other MP3/CD players are increasingly popular for listening to text, not 
music.

Clemmons, NC (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) January 27, 2005 -- NextUp.com 
(www.NextUp.com), a leader in providing quality Text-to-Speech (TTS) 
software, today announced the results of its latest Customer Survey, 
designed to take the pulse of the portable device market and aimed at 
customers for its popular TextAloudT product. TextAloud uses the power of 
voice synthesis to "speak aloud" documents, web pages, e-mail and more, with 
text seamlessly converted into spoken audio you can hear on your PC, or save 
to MP3/Windows Media files for easy playback on portables like the iPod®, 
Rio®, iRiver®, PocketPC®, and dozens more.

Conducted over a two-week period in late November 2004, the NextUp Customer 
Survey provides an intriguing look at the way Text-to-Speech software is 
changing the way people work, study, drive, and relax. TextAloud enables 
NextUp customers to listen to everything from eBooks, to study materials, 
work notes, web sites, e-mails or articles -- "on the go," and from the 
convenience of their portable devices.

"iPods are really hot in some surprising areas, ranging from students 
learning away from class, to lawyers proofreading documents during their 
commutes," comments Ken White, CEO of NextUp.com. "Music and leisure may be 
driving the iPod explosion, but we won't be surprised if ambition and work 
ethic are what sustains it."

With this in mind, NextUp conducted a series of online surveys with its 
TextAloud customers in order to gather feedback on their use of TextAloud 
with their portable devices, and to discover ways in which the company could 
continue to make the product more useful and accessible to this exciting and 
rapidly growing marketplace.

Survey Results at a Glance
The 2004 Survey of Portable Customers covered users' answers to questions 
about TextAloud, its use with Portable Devices, customers' portable brand 
preferences, their preferred locations for listening to text on the go, and 
much more -- with some surprising results:

. Perhaps one of the most surprising results of the survey was the fact that 
most TextAloud users -- nearly 70 percent -- purchased their portables 
solely for text use! eBooks, study, and news proved to be the most popular 
activities (at 40, 26 and 15 percent respectively), with TextAloud 
increasing information retention and providing a unique way to 'read' for 
enjoyment's sake across the boards.

. With iPod® in a slight lead, a rich array of portable brands like Rio®, 
iRiver®, IPAQ®, and many more help TextAloud users get more out of their 
day.

. Also surprising was the fact that more than 65% of all portable users who 
responded to NextUp's survey use their MP3 players for significant listening 
to text-to-speech documents -- nearly 20% doing so a whopping 81 to 100% of 
the time!

. Portable TextAloud users certainly love their cars! Survey results clearly 
show that today's portable users are always seeking to maximize their time, 
to listen to their text while they drive (over 57%), work out, or get out of 
the house (over 22%).

The results are clear: MP3 players aren't just for music anymore!

About TextAloud 2.0
TextAloud is a full-featured Text-to-Speech tool offering direct support for 
Word, PDF and HTML formats, as well as advanced pronunciation tools, an 
Internet Explorer Plug-In for easy listening of favorite web pages -- and 
more.

Hailed by critics and users alike, TextAloud is priced at just $29.95, and 
is compatible with systems using Windows® 98, NT, 2000 and XP. The program 
is available for fast, safe and secure purchase via http://www.NextUp.com.

NextUp.com also offers TextAloud with optional premium voices from AT&T 
Natural VoicesT, NeoSpeech and Cepstral® for the most natural-sounding 
computer speech anywhere.

About NextUp.com
NextUp.com, a division of NextUp Technologies, LLC, provides award-winning 
Text-to-Speech software for consumers, business customers, educators, and 
those with visual impairment or learning disabilities.

In addition to TextAloud, NextUp.com markets other innovative Windows 
software designed to save time and deliver vital information. NewsAloudT is 
a talking personal "news agent" that finds the stories users want, and then 
reads them aloud or to portable MP3 files. WeatherAloudT is a weather 
application that lets users select and listen to personalized weather 
forecasts, while StocksAloudT reads stock updates and related news headlines 
aloud for specific companies of interest.

Note to Editors: Evaluation copies of TextAloud 2.0 -- as well as limited 
packages including a portable audio player presented to reporters for their 
reviewing convenience -- are currently available upon request. To receive a 
review copy, or for more information on NextUp.com or TextAloud, please 
contact Rick Ellis via www.NextUp.com.

Meanwhile, for images, logos, box shots, or other information or artwork on 
TextAloud 2.0, please contact publicist Angela Mitchell at (904) 982-8043.

All companies and products referenced in this press release, including 
TextAloudT, iPod®, Rio®, iRiver®, Windows®, and more are the trademarks of 
their respective owners.

Media Contacts:
Rick Ellis
NextUp.com
e-mail protected from spam bots or (336) 998-1882

Angela Mitchell
Paranoid PR
e-mail protected from spam bots or (904) 982-8043

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb202449.htm

--
BlindNews mailing list

Archived at: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind/
Address message to list by sending mail to: BlindNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Access your subscription info at: 
http://blindprogramming.com/mailman/listinfo/blindnews_blindprogramming.com

-- 
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.5 - Release Date: 1/26/2005

-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.5 - Release Date: 1/26/2005

Other related posts: